The Kittiwake is here to stay.
We all thought the newest dive site for the Cayman Islands was going to stay put once she was sunk and anchored down.
But the old submarine recovery ship, which we received from the United States, had other intentions.
Thanks to winds and waves from Hurricane Rina the ship has moved.
There are a couple of amazing things about the movement of the ship during the storm.
For starters, Hurricane Rina didn’t come near the Cayman Islands. It’s closest was about 193 miles to the southwest of Grand Cayman.
We did get some blustery days and a lot of rain, but other than that, Rina didn’t really leave a mark on the Cayman Islands.
But it appears what was going on underneath the surface of the Caribbean Sea was a different story.
Wave and wind action caused an enormous anchor chain on the ship to snap and metal plates on the massive ship to disappear.
The Kittiwake made a move, but not one that was to be expected. One would assume that wave and wind from the storm would have driven anything toward the shore of the Cayman Islands.
Instead, the Kittiwake headed back out to sea and now rests near Sand Chute.
From reports of divers who have inspected the dive site, it’s unlikely that she’ll be going any farther in the event of other weather events.
So Mother Nature has embedded the Kittiwake and, by taking the metal plates, allowed more light for divers into the old ship.
The Kittiwake has been a welcomed addition to the Cayman Islands dive tourism product. She’s attracted more and more visitors to our shores and has been a highlight with families and friends looking for something different to do in their spare time on the water.
With the advent of Hurricane Rina, she now has another chapter to add in her long-storied history. The snapped anchor links dangling off the side of the ship as well as the slack anchor chains at the rear of the ship are a testament to what Hurricane Rina left us in her wake.
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